Senate passes cancer agency reform bill

'Iron-clad' checks and balances promised for the troubled institute

Updated 10:55 pm, Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Texas lawmakers passed legislation to rectify the state's troubled cancer institute on Wednesday, putting in place safeguards aimed at preventing the kind of abuses found the past year to have wasted millions of dollars in taxpayer money.

"This will ensure that lapses in oversight of CPRIT will never happen again," said Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, who sponsored the original legislation setting up the program in 2009. "CPRIT must be held to a higher standard because its mission is so important."

Nelson added that she never would have imagined that the laws and rules put in place in 2007, when the $3 billion assault on cancer was initially passed, "would be disregarded and twisted like they were." But the outrage that's characterized numerous hearings on the agency's shenanigans was muted Wednesday. The Senate measure will now be assigned to a House committee, where Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, will be the sponsor.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst praised Nelson's work for "this noble purpose the voters overwhelmingly approved" and said the bill's final passage should lead to the restoration of the agency's funding.

Under investigation

The bill follows a tumultuous year at the cancer agency, in which three large grants were found to have bypassed proper procedures. Widespread deficiencies, detailed in a withering state audit, led to the resignations of the agency's top three officials and a politically imposed moratorium on the awarding of grants until public confidence is restored. The agency is under civil and criminal investigations.

On Tuesday, the agency's controversial fundraising arm announced it will shut down within 60 days. The foundation had been under fire for using what some legislators called "secret money" to subsidize the salaries of agency executives. Legislators expressed concern that maintaining donor anonymity might leave agency officials unaware of conflicts of interest.

Wednesday's vote didn't come without criticism of the agency. Royce West, D-Dallas, compared it to "a common thief," and Kel Selinger, R-Amarillo, said he had "no confidence whatsoever in the board or organization." Nelson said no one was angrier or more disappointed than her, but added that "we cannot let the actions of a few erase the hope of all Texans looking to this institute to help save their lives or the lives of their loved ones."

Changes ahead

The Senate bill, which relies heavily on recommendations in the state audit, calls for a new, seven-member panel to review scores that science and commercialization experts give to grant applicants - reviews that would then go to the agency's governing board. Among other things, the bill also would limit governing board member terms to two years; prohibit agency officials from serving on boards of grant recipients or their foundations; and strengthen oversight of advance payments, matching funds and honorariums. It also includes an amendment by Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, requiring the institute to report the names of future donors.

CPRIT interim executive director Wayne Roberts applauded the bill, saying it will strengthen accountability and transparency. He called it "a great deal for all Texans concerned with the fight against cancer."

Nelson touted "an iron-clad system of checks and balances" in the bill that "will make it impossible for the institute to operate without 100 percent transparency and accountability." But she also acknowledged "I can't keep somebody from breaking the law."

"CPRIT isn't the first agency to stumble," Nelson said, "and it won't be the last."